Links

Abstract

Heavy rain during January 18-19, 1996, combined with unseasonably warm temperatures that caused rapid snowmelt, resulted in widespread flooding throughout New York State. Damages to highways, bridges, and private property exceeded $100 million. The storm and flooding claimed 10 lives, stranded hundreds of people, destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and businesses, and closed hundreds of roads. Forty-one counties in New York were declared federal disaster areas. The most severely affected region was within and surrounding the Catskill Mountains. Damages and losses within Delaware County alone exceeded $20 million.More than 4.5 inches of rain fell on at least 45 inches of melting snow in the Catskill Mountain region during January 18-19 and caused major flooding in the area. The most destructive flooding was along Schoharie Creek and the East and West Branches of the Delaware River. Record peak discharges occurred at 57 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations throughout New York. Maximum discharges at 15 sites, mostly within the Schoharie Creek and Delaware River basins, had recurrence intervals equal to or greater than 100 years. The storage of significant amounts of floodwater in several reservoirs sharply reduced peak discharges downstream. This report presents a summary of peak stages and discharges, precipitation maps, floodflow hydrographs, inflow-outflow hydrographs for several reservoirs, and flood profiles along 83 miles of Schoharie Creek from its headwaters in the Catskill Mountains to its mouth at the Mohawk River.

Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format
(PDF). For best results viewing and printing PDF documents, it is recommended that you download
the documents to your computer and open them with Adobe Reader. PDF documents opened from your
browser may not display or print as intended. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge. More information
about viewing, downloading, and printing report files can be found here.